Atonement
by Captain Lavernius Tucker
Summary: To Atone - to make up for previous wrongs. Felix had led a life as a pretty terrible person, but it has led to his death at the hand of a group of idiots. He is now forced to live life again without his memory, trying his best to do what is right. Rated K or T for every chapter except the fifth chapter called Farewells and an Orgy
1. Prologue

"Noooooooo!" Felix screamed as he plummeted down to what he presumed was his death. His visor was flickering from the full view to the slit that it would be without the camera and back again. Suddenly, he saw a red light and passed out.

He woke up in an empty room and Santa appeared in front of him. Felix noticed that his armour was scattered around him and asked. "Where the fuck am I and I and why the fuck is my armour off."

Santa stared back at him. "You have the seeds of greatness and kindness within you."

Felix threw up his hands "What's that got to do about anything? Anyway, if you think I'm some sort of angel, your creators are some fucked up people."

"You are the worst person that has ever graced this planet."

"Yeah, that sounds about right, but why did you save me from death?"

"Because you are one of the few who have that potential to be truly great; to ascend to levels which mortals should not."

Felix started laughing. "Me? Truly great? Did someone hack you or something because I thought the forerunners were supposed to be this powerful race."

Even though he was a holographic projection of a Sanghelli, Santa looked annoyed. "Without delaying any further, you will have your memories wiped so you can be reborn somewhere else and hopefully, you will reach that level. The second I think it is ready, you may have your armour and weapons back as well as your memories."

"OK Cool, but I didn't get…" Felix vanished, and Santa sighed. At the same time in a different universe, a baby was born. His name was Jaune Arc.

Jaune went through the first part of his childhood relatively happily and he was a normal kid, apart from the Voice. The Voice was his nickname for the voice he heard in his head whenever he was around certain people. He first experienced this when a police officer came to his village. He was about seven at the time and he heard the Voice clearly, saying 'kill Grif kill Grif kill Grif kill Grif' over and over again. He learned not to tell his parents about this after the first time, as it got him an appointment with a therapist. He heard this voice very occasionally, although mainly whenever that Police officer came near him or Ozpin was on the news.

He had dreams of becoming a hunter because he wanted to help and he heard all of the tales of his ancestors bravely slaying grimm and evildoers, but his father, a seasoned veteran, refused to teach him in fear of losing his only son to violence. Instead, Jaune was taught other skills like sewing and baking. However, from the age of 13, he snuck out with the family sword and tried to fight with it, but while he felt at home with the idea of fighting, the sword always felt off to him. He once caught himself trying to press the hilt of his sword, as if that was going to magically make him become a competent swordfighter.

Tired of his parents forcing him not to pursue his dream and repeatedly trying to get him help for the Voice, he ran away to Vale, a city he had been to many times, often to get a new thread for sewing, where he often pretended to the cashier that his non-existent girlfriend wanted it. He, through a friend of his father's recommendation, went to Junior, who got him a fake transcript for free when he told Junior who recommended him. Junior had told him 'Look. A friend of my Friend is a friend of mine, but do remember, that I will chase you up if I need anything.' Jaune had left his scroll number and they parted ways.

He had gone to Beacon, and immediately the voice singled out many. When he was around Ruby, the Voice was the as angry as it was around the one it called Grif, something that was very rare as it only got that agitated around that Grif person or watching Ozpin on TV. When it was around Yang or Blake, the Voice got annoyed, as in an exasperated 'what a weirdo' annoyed. Around Pyrrha he got his strongest reaction from the Voice to date, as the voice loathed Pyrrha. Around Oobleck, he got another strong reaction and around Port, the Voice got annoyed like with Yang and Blake. There were countless more, but these were the people who he was around the most and so, he had to supress it.

This was the main reason why he pursued Weiss, not mainly because she was beautiful, which she was, but because the Voice had no reaction, and he took that as a sign of approval from the Voice. It only got him in trouble however, and he realised that listening to a voice in your head that wants him to kill a great many people and likes no-one was not the best idea. He had not been oblivious to Pyrrha's affections, but whenever he tried to say anything other than an oblivious reaction, the Voice yelled obscenities in his head, calling her such lovely things such as whore and good for nothing cunt.

After the fall of Beacon, the Voice fell silent, eerily silent. When he trained to Pyrrha's recording, he did not hear the sound of insults, but absolutely nothing. Around even Ruby, who he was around on a regular basis in person, he heard nothing. They advanced onwards and he did not feel the sense of the sword not belonging anymore. He never caught himself pressing the hilt with his finger anymore and he was not sure what to think. He was happy because he did not have a voice that dictated who he liked and disliked, but then again, he, who always heard at least someone as when his family was not speaking back at home he heard the Voice saying something about someone, heard nothing for long periods of time.

His teammates had noticed this reaction, and he told the partial truth to why he was so focused and yet depressed. He told them he missed Pyrrha, that he could have stopped her, that he could have had a chance with her if he wasn't a fucking idiot, but he omitted the Voice in his explanation. He was drawn to Atlas, a reason why he was so focused on getting an airship there whatever the means of doing so, as normally he tried to keep to the law, though he conveniently forgot that he forged transcripts to Beacon, a crime punishable by significant jail time. Either way, the plan worked, and he felt a sense of happiness that he hadn't felt since the fall.

At the moment though, he is flying to Atlas, waiting to see whether he will spend the rest of his life staring lifelessly out of a prison cell, surviving on a ration of bread and water because of said stolen ship.


	2. Finding out

Jaune had no idea what happened. First, he was on a ship waiting to inevitably go to prison, the next thing he knew, General Ironwood had just apologised to them for putting them in a prison ship and telling them that they could upgrade their weapons. However, when Jaune tried to request his weapon upgrade, Ironwood shook his head. "No. I need to say something to you when everyone is gone."

Jaune felt excitement, a feeling not felt since just before he joined Beacon. "Is this about the voice?" He blurted out without thinking.

Ironwood tilted his head. "Funny, that was what we heard you would say, but we never got an explanation to what it meant."

Jaune was confused. "Who told you?"

Ironwood started explaining. "On the day that you arrived, we found a briefcase saying 'To Jaune Arc only.' We picked it up, recognising the name, and there as well as the main contents, there was a recording. It was a distorted voice telling us to give this to you when you reached Atlas. We checked the briefcase for everything but found no signs that he wanted to kill you. Now, the technology in there is staggering, leap years beyond even our technology. We did not want to tamper with it other than giving it one upgrade for you but we did not see how it is possible – despite seeing this technology we have no means to replicate any of it and we have not even seen it work – it could be the greatest thing ever or it could be useless."

Jaune was almost jumping on the spot he was so excited.

Ironwood cut himself off from his train of thought. "Follow me and I will show you."

They went into a dark room, far away from his friends. Ironwood pulled out a briefcase. "Do you want to do the honours?"

Jaune, grinning ear to ear opened it… and reeled back in horror, clutching his head as memories flooded his mind. He moaned. "What have I done! What have I done!" Again and again. Ironwood looked sympathetic. "The person told us you would act like that when you saw this." Jaune was in this state for a very long time, his kind and benevolent attitude conflicting greatly with his actions a literal life ago.

Jaune picked himself up, tears running down his face and Ironwood looked uncomfortable. "Do you want to clean yourself up and then go to the others?"

Jaune nodded, the guilt weighing heavy on him. Once he had cleaned up and joined the others, pretending he got a durability upgrade to his shield, he was told the mission by Ironwood. They were to kill an annoying Geist alongside the Ace Ops. After the explanation, Ruby asked him cheerfully. "Do you want to go with me, Weiss, Blake and Ren to get our hair done? You've always complained how long it is."

Jaune shook his head, obviously forcing a smile. "I'm fine." He walked away from them, desperate to think about what he had remembered. Blake looked at Ruby, "Forget our hair, let's see what's wrong with him."

Ruby nodded "Yeah, Ren and Weiss can plait their hair on their own, and our friend is more important than our hair."

They found Jaune with his head in his hands, leaning against the wall. He lifted his head, eyes bloodshot with hastily wiped away tears. "What do you want? I thought you were going to get your hair done?"

Ren, who was plaiting Weiss's hair, said, "You can't make us go away, not after you've been crying."

"Fine, I-It's because of what Ironwood needed me for. That is all I can say."

"Screw Ironwood!" Weiss of all people shouted. "We are your friends. Tell us what's wrong."

"I can't. I'll be fine for the mission – don't worry about me."

Blake glared at Jaune. "Tell us afterwards."

Jaune nodded. "I promise I will tell you everything."

Weiss looked at him. "Remember, an Arc keeps his promises."

Later, they were on the way to the mission. He had been convinced previously (forced) by Ironwood to bring the briefcase along and they had told the Ace Ops the minimum and what they told was only really a half-truth – they told them that they needed to test a piece of equipment and Jaune was the right man for it. They didn't say what equipment though.

Eventually it was time to jump. Jaune jumped first and soon screamed "Son of a Bitch!" as he saw the height and he was soon overtaken by a gleeful Nora, who screamed back. "See you later alligator!" Jaune suddenly realised something very important – he had no ranged weapon to slow him down, his shield was the wrong shape for a parachute and his semblance was about as useless in this situation as Nora was in a kitchen. He prepared himself for an untimely death until he remembered his briefcase. He pulled a small remote looking device and pressed it. Armour assembled around him and he activated his hardlight shield just before he hit the bridge. Promethean hardlight hit hardlight dust and they repelled, bouncing him in the air and he just about landed on his feet.

He looked at his teammates and the Ace Ops, who were all staring open mouthed at him. Elm broke the silence. "I'm guessing that is the equipment you are testing."

Nora tilted her head. "How are we going to recognise him if he gets lost?"

Ren sighed. "Nora, this is probably a prototype, so he is wearing the only suit available."

Nora gasped, ignoring Ren. "What if someone copies the armour and wears it, pretending to be Jaune!"

Ren shook his head. "Never mind."

Vine beckoned to them. "Come on. While the armour looks cool, the mission is more important."

Everyone followed him while Nora pouted. "Aww, it looks so cool! Like a Sloth!"

Everyone stared at her. "You do know that sloths aren't black and orange, right?" Jaune asked.

"Of course I do silly, but the face looks like a sloth, wait a minute, your voice sounds so cool!" Nora grinned.

"It does! Is that like a voice filter or something?" Asked Elm.

Jaune glared at her inside the helmet. "Hey! My voice is cool!"

"Jaune." Said Ren, trying to break it nicely. "I hate to tell you but…"

"You sound like a young Geography teacher." Said Elm.

"Hey!" Jaune said, offended.

"I mean it's true." Nora giggled.

Jaune flipped them off. "Fuck you guys."

Nora and Ren stared at him. _'shit!' Jaune thought. 'That was a Felixism. They're going to get really suspicious now.'_

Nora asked, "Are you feeling OK? I've never heard you swear ever, even when you saw Cinder."

Ren narrowed his eyes, suspicious at this sudden change.

Jaune tried to think of a good coverup story. "Oh, sorry, I swear all the time at home, and I censored myself when I came to Beacon. Sometimes it comes out.

Ren looked at him again and turned around, documenting this for later.

Suddenly, they heard Clover over the earpiece. "This is Alpha squad. LZ's clear, proceeding on foot. You've all got fancy new scrolls, except for Jaune, so don't forget to use 'em. Keep your eyes and ears open. I want an update if you encounter the target. Alpha out."

Ren's eyes narrowed further. "Why don't you have a new scroll?"

"This," Jaune paused, tapping his helmet. "has all I need."

Elm raised her eyebrows. "That's way more advanced than the shit that they give soldiers. They still need earpieces."

Vine suggested. "Maybe it is the replacement."

"But why is it so non-Atlesian in colour?"

Jaune explained. "This is not for soldiers. This is a prototype where we can see what the equipment on this armour and the weapons that come with it act in the field."

"Makes sense." Elm said.

Ren documented this information.

"Ren, are you seriously writing this down?" Nora asked him in disbelief.

"Yes." Ren started whispering. "I'm going compile a list of questions from this for when we ask him after the mission."

Nora nodded. They walked into the cave in silence. Harriet's voice was heard from the earpieces. "Bravo checking in. Hit a bit of a snag, there's been a cave-in in the main entrance. Not sure if it's recent or if it was caused by the original accident. Either way, we'll have to do a little problem solving."

Clover responded. "Understood, let us know if you need anything."

Jaune said. "Damn, one of the weapons I got would be really useful there."

Nora asked. "Can you show me?"

"No."

"Please? With a Pancake on top?"

"No. It's a surprise."

Nora groaned and complained to Ren. "So unfair, I bet it would be really cool as well."

Harriet returned to their earpieces after another minute. "This is Bravo, we found the target, but it fled deeper into the mine. Engaging Centinels."

"Aww, why do RWBY get all the fun?" Asked Nora.

Ren shrugged.

Elm asked Jaune. "Did you pick the colours?"

Jaune nodded. "Yeah, I just liked it."

Ren looked mystified. "But this is completely opposite to your normal colour scheme."

Jaune shrugged. "I can't have everything the same colour."

Ren looked at him. "But you said this is a prototype, you can't own this."

Jaune muttered "Shit." They slid down the ice deeper into the mine and saw the Centinels. Jaune drew a DMR and shot at the one closest and after 3 shots, it smashed through the armour and the Centinel dissolved. He saw Ren and Nora take out the other 2 and they were all dead before the Ace Ops made it down.

"Looks like an army weapon, but that didn't sound like dust." Elm said.

"It isn't." Jaune said. "Ironwood is trying to find alternatives because of recent arguments with the SDC."

"What is it called?" She asked.

"Gunpowder."

She mouthed the word. Ren looked at Jaune. "He's lying." He whispered to Nora.

"How do you know?"

"He always makes himself smaller whenever he lies. Also, his voice goes higher."

Nora looked at her childhood crush in wonder. "You know, you always manage to impress me."

Ren chuckled slightly, but they were interrupted. "This is Alpha, we've engaged the target."

A bit later, they heard him again. "Charlie, Bravo. You should be able to cut off the target at the heart of the mine. Qrow and I won't be far behind."

They ran into the heart. Nora gasped. "It is so hot!"

Jaune chuckled "What, you don't have a built-in cooling system designed to give you the desired temperature to the nearest 10th of a degree?"

Nora punched him in the shoulder. A blue light flickered. "And imagine not having a shield built into your armour to boost the defence of the armour." Jaune continued.

"Everyone uses caution. The room is highly active with dust energy. Triggering it could ruin the launch sight." Said Vine

"And vaporise us. How is that always second with you?" Marrow responded

Jaune started saying something and Elm said. "Yeah, we know you have your shield. All we have is aura so shut up."

Jaune snickered but noticed. "Where is it? I thought they said-holy shit."

Nora looked confused. "No they didn't, what are you talking…" The ground exploded in front of them as the Geist dropped from the roof. Immediately the Ace Ops were in action. Jaune could not keep up with the action as suddenly, the Geist was missing an arm and a dust crystal. Elm shouted. "C'mon, you wanted to test this stuff, right?"

"Right." Jaune said and leapt into action. The Ace Ops were distracting the Geist and the Geist tried to hit Jaune, but Jaune deployed his Hardlight shield, blocking it and in the moment of confusion, he deactivated it, grabbed the arm and shimmied his way up. He pulled out the sticky detonator and shot the metal. He waited a second before pulling the trigger again, blowing up the other arm. He heard a squeal behind him and shouted. "That was the surprise Nora!"

Clover's grappling hook grappled around the face of the Geist and he pulled the Geist out. Harriet punched the Geist and killed it. The Ace Ops grabbed most of the dust that was falling to the floor, but Harriet and Ruby were racing for the last one and Jaune caught it just before their speed semblances overtook him – he was very close to it when it fell. Ruby pouted but Harriet told her "That is different from any speed semblance I've seen."

Ruby asked. "The important thing is who is that and where is Jaune?"

"I am Jaune." He stated.

"Yup, sounds like him." Yang said. "But he does sound way cooler than normal."

"You too?" Jaune looked at Yang in betrayal.

"You know we can't see your face, right?" Asked Yang.

"Oh." Jaune said. "I forgot."

"Anyway." Said Weiss. "Where did you learn those skills from and what the hell is that armour?"

"I'll tell you afterwards when we are back."

They walked back out of the mine with Ruby and Nora fangirling to the two women Ace Ops. He heard vaguely that Harriet was telling them that they are not friends. Jaune thought _'Just like Locus and I'_ He walked over to her. "Friendship creates even more trust doesn't it? If you are not friends with your teammates then you will experience divisions, which can lead further and further down the rabbit hole into betrayal, hatred and fear."

Harriet looked sympathetic. "Experienced it?"

"Yeah." Jaune sighed.

"Tell me afterwards. I heard your teammates want to get answers about your armour and other stuff and I would really like to hear about it. I'm sure my teammates." She stressed that word. "Feel the same as well as Ironwood."

"Sure."

Ironwood called Him, Ruby and Qrow over and he saw Clover talking to Ironwood. Ironwood told them about the murders going on in mantle. Jaune recognised the face. "That's Forest! He died?"

Ruby's eyes widened and she gasped

"Not really a good image." Commented Qrow. "People dying when they oppose you?"

"I don't care about my image; I care about Atlas's. Someone's trying to frame me. And it's working."

Jaune said. "True. People are already angry about the Embargo and that will make people think that you are trying to create a dictator state."

Ironwood nodded. "Exactly. We have to prove that it isn't me or we could use martial law." He tried to joke, quirking a lip upwards.

"Martial law? What's that?" Ruby asked.

"Did you not pay attention in class? Martial law is essentially a military takeover of everything, and it isn't a half bad idea actually. Sure, there would be uprisings but there would be little casualties and little change as the military is already controlling a lot. Martial Law is often used in the wake of a disaster, and I would call this and the fall of Beacon and near fall of Haven disasters." Jaune said.

Everyone stared at him. "You aren't seriously suggesting that are you?" Qrow asked.

"Let's be honest, it is essentially Martial law anyway, so it really would not make a difference except for the Council to become a puppet to the military. Vale is in disarray and so cannot do much, Mistral has no hunters and Vacuo is Vacuo, so it isn't a problem with the other countries."

Ironwood said. "I will think about this later. It isn't a half bad suggestion." Suddenly, Ironwood got a call telling him that Jacques Schnee was approaching.

Jaune sighed and listened to Jacques ranting at Ironwood. He tilted his head at Ironwood, and Ironwood looked back at Jaune as if to say, 'I see what you mean'. Jacques noticed Jaune. "What is that? I don't think that this was told to the council and more than that, this is using my dust!" Jacques pointed at his armour. Jaune looked back at Ironwood. "Experimental tech does not need to be run past the council. It is only when it reaches mass production that it needs approval."

Jacques shouted at him. "You dare talk back to me? You are a mere hunter in training! I am the owner of the most successful dust business in the world!"

"And I think you should shut the fuck up." Jaune said. "This uses no dust in it. Now please leave a legal." He stressed this. "operation. In fact, it is your fault that there was an explosion here and that a Geist got in as you did not put in sufficient safety measures. When I came here, I noticed that the safety was not up to standards with Atlas's safety regulations. If there is anyone in trouble with the council, it is you and that would surely thwart your election hopes."

Jacques seethed. "Hunter in training tells head of the Schnee dust company to shut the fuck up. That would look beautiful on the papers."

"I'm sure it would. Now I think you have an apology to make." Jaune gestured to Weiss.

Jacques glared at her. "You." He looked at Ironwood. "You've roped her in? How long has she been here? Does Winter know?"

"It was my choice to come here." Said Weiss angrily at her father. "Just like it was my choice to leave, or have you forgotten all about that? Now, I would not say it in the same way that my friend did, but I wholeheartedly agree with him."

"If you think I'm one to forget anything girl then you've misjudged the man your father is."

"Believe me, I know exactly the kind of man you are."

"How dare you speak to me in that way. I have half a mind to-"

"Half a mind to do what, Jacques?" Ironwood asked.

"In case you didn't know, she is stronger, faster and more powerful than you, even if you are her father in name only. You are two faced, backstabbing, lying, racist, heartless and care nothing about anyone, even your family. Weiss is a kind, caring, open minded, smart, truthful young woman who cares for her friends and the well-being of everyone, especially those in need."

Weiss mouthed 'thanks' to Jaune and he whispered back. "No problem."

Jacques laughed bitterly. "Then you have misjudged the kind of woman my daughter is."

Ironwood said. "Though I would not be so blunt, he is right."

Jacques was about to scream at him, but he composed himself and turned back to Weiss. "You know, your mother was devastated when you left. Didn't leave her room for days. You know how she gets when she's upset."

Weiss was stunned by her father's behaviour so Jaune responded. "That is your fault for multiple reasons. You dragged Weiss back to Atlas despite her not wanting to leave Vale, you locked her in her room and forced her to do your bidding and my mother knew Willow. She told me that before she married you, she was bright, vibrant and willing to do anything to help her friends. Now, well, you only have to read the news."

Jacques said. "This is personal. You have no business in this matter. I do not know why you had the cheek to speak up to me in this private matter between me, my daughter and Ironwood."

"Because I know your type. Heck, I worked for someone so similar to you that your roles could have been swapped and everything would be the same. You are the type who wants control over everything. You want money, over even your own family. In the most extreme cases, like you, you hold no love for your family as you care only for your own interests and your own wellbeing. His name was Malcolm Hargrove. You should remember that name." With that he turned around and walked away.

He heard Jacques telling Ironwood. "I knew that one day you would overextend your reach. I didn't come here to beg for an abandoned mine. I am here to thank you for personally hand me the noose to hang you." He continued. "You'll regret this." He then heard him turn to Weiss. "So these are the little friends you threw everything away for. These and that most rude boy that had the gall to talk back to me."

Weiss responded. "Not friends. Family. And the rude boy comes from a family almost as big as yours. He is not of a family you can just bully like you do everyone else."

"Hmm. I do hope you will support me in the upcoming election, after all, it would be a shame to have to cut all dust going to the Military." With that, Jaune knew exactly what he was going to do.


	3. Huntsmen (and Merc)

By the time Jaune came back to the group, Jacques was gone. He saw a truck roll to a stop. Winter got out and Weiss smiled at her. "Oh _now_ you show up Winter. You just missed father."

"I wouldn't say I missed hi-"

Penny came crashing to the ground, surprising everyone but Jaune, who detected her through his map. He put out his hardlight shield, which protected him from the crash. The others were not so lucky as they were sent flying back. A hologram saying 'Congratulations!' appeared above her head. Confetti surrounded the word and a party horn sounded. She shouted "Surprise!" and then frowned. "Oh, I cannot detect the material some of your equipment is made out of. I should get that checked out."

Jaune smirked. "I would be more worried if you knew what it was. This," He deployed his hardlight shield. "Is hardlight, but unlike the hardlight you know, it is not produced by dust

Penny grinned brightly "OK, I will document that for future usage." Her expression slipped as she saw that everyone was flat on their backs. "Uh, have we not started yet?"

Winter put her fingers to her forehead in exasperation. "Apparently, we haven't."

Jaune snickered. "Yeah, you scared the living hell out of them."

Ruby glared at him as she picked herself up. "Just because you have that really cool hardlight shield thing doesn't mean you can make fun of us!"

Jaune thought. _'technically, I'm in my 50s so I have every right to.'_ But instead of vocalising this, he said. "I mean, It looked really funny."

Weiss looked at Jaune. "Save the mockery for later, I'm more curious as to what she was congratulating us about."

Ironwood looked at them. "Let's go to the Amity Colosseum. I have something to tell you there."

Once they were in the arena, Ironwood started speaking. "It goes without saying that this arena holds a significance to all of us. It's only fitting that we should be able to reconvene here. Now. When the world needs to be brought together more than ever. The road you have traveled from our first meeting hasn't been easy." Meanwhile, Penny had to be calmed by Winter as she was bouncing.

"You fought for your school and your friends at Beacon . You fought for the world and the innocent at Haven Academy and beyond. You faced down terrors people can't even fathom. That's not the behaviour of students. It's the behaviour of… Huntsmen and Huntresses." Penny, humming alll the way, walked past them, stopping at each person to tap on her scroll. She stops at Jaune and tilts her head. "What should I do? You don't have a new scroll."

Jaune responded. "I, along with your father, modified it to pick up Remnant signals. Anything you do should appear on my HUD like it would a scroll. We also modified it's HUD so it should display what a scroll does anyway." He absentmindedly pressed on the place where his impant had reappeared on his neck.

Penny grinned and pressed a button.

Yang frowned. "So it has all that writing on your helmet? Must be annoying."

Jaune answered. "I can choose whether I want to view it or not."

'_A lot harder to do without an AI though, not that I had one in the first place'_ He thought

Penny grinned and pressed a button. His student licence appeared on his helmet. It flickered and turned into a huntsman licence. Everyone checked their scrolls, but Weiss paused, nearly dropping the scroll, and looked in bewilderment at Jaune. "What do you mean not being able to pick up remnant signals? We are the only life in the universe."

Jaune chuckled. _'While she could be right about this universe, my universe will blow her mind'_ He thought. "I'll explain in the giant explanation thing." He said

Weiss nodded and Ren wrote down something else. Ironwood cleared his throat. "I'm assuming you can all see on your scrolls," He looked at Jaune as Jaune was about to speak. He sighed. "And your helmet what we have decided to do."

Ruby stared in awe at her scroll. "We're huntresses now." Ren and Jaune cleared their throats. "And huntsmen."

Ironwood continued his speech. "I know this is coming a little ahead of schedule, but Brothers know you deserve it. I only regret that I couldn't do something a little more ceremonious for the occaision."

Ruby glanced at her friends. "We… We're honoured, General Ironwood, but you really don't have to do th-"

"Please. With the threat of Salem still out there and tensions rising in our kingdom, I certainly could use some more trustworthy figures at my side." Everyone deflated at that, remembering what was at stake. He smiles at them. "It's okay, it's a big moment. And what better way than to celebrate here? When this tower is ready and communications are back up and running, we'll tell the world about Salem and face down whatever comes after that, together. That's about all the pomp I have in me. If you'll excuse me, I have to get back to running this operation. Um, well then. Enjoy the cake."

Penny consoles him. "Your speech outros are really improving sir!"

"After everything we've been through, I've forgotten this is what I wanted in the first place." Said Yang.

Jaune grimaced in his helmet. "Yeah, I especially didn't think I would since I, well, you know."

Ruby smiles at him. "And that makes it even more impressive."

He smiled back. "Thanks."

Weiss said. "It almost feels trivial now."

'_You're telling me.'_ Thought Jaune.

Qrow said. "Jeez, lighten up a little. Enjoy yourselves for a change. You've earned it. By the way, metalhead? Take off your helmet before all of the cake gets eaten."

Jaune said. "Metalhead? Oh right, you're talking about me." He looked at Nora, who was being restrained by Ren as she tried to get to the cake. "Yeah, I see your point." He takes off his helmet.

Yang looked at him. "Jeez, helmet hair much?"

Jaune shoved Yang. "Try wearing it, then you're hair will be worse than mine."

Yang laughed and shoved him back. Nora broke free and grabbed 4 slices of cake and ate them in one go. Jaune dove for 6 slices and gave one to each of the new hunters and huntresses and kept one for himself. Penny popped up in front of him. "I must know more about your armour and weapons." As soon as she said that, Ruby appeared next to her. "What are they made of?"

"Is the armour really advanced?"

"Are the weapons powerful?"

"What does it run on?"

Jaune laughed. "One question at a time people." The others had gathered around him, Yang taking a selfie in front of Jaune and the cake with Blake.

Jaune continued. "Ruby, you asked what they were made of? Well, metal basically. My weapons use something called gunpowder that fire metal bullets instead of dust firing dust. My armour is also metal but it has a material that makes it essentially a second skin. The armour is very advanced as it far outclasses any Atlesian armour. Most of the weapons are quite powerful, but my pistol is quite weak. The armour runs on fusion technology."

Winter, Ironwood and Penny are about to ask how it runs on fusion technology, but to keep cover unitl Jaune reveals all, they stop themselves from saying anything. Weiss doesn't though, and asks. "Fusion? Atlas tried that a couple of years before I was born and it was deemed impossible so how have Atlas done that?"

"All will be revealed later." Jaune said mysteriously.

"Fine. But you will tell us or else…"

"You'll kick my ass." Jaune finished.

"Yeah. That." Weiss said.

Ruby walked off with Qrow to sit seperately while the others had fun. Blake had wandered off with her maybe-friend-maybe-girlfriend Yang so that left his team and Weiss. Nora asked him. "Can you fire that weapon again?"

Jaune shook his head. "I only have a limited amount of ammo and we are still working on mass producing the ammo."

Nora nodded. "Ohhhh. How much ammo do you currently have?"

Jaune winced. "4 grenades left. I need to get some made. Unfortunately, it can only use the grenades I have in it so I can't get any dust grenades in and I don't want to mod it."

Nora said. "That sucks. It is way cooler than Yang's sticky grenades for sure though."

Yang, who was animatedly chatting to Blake froze. "What's wrong Yang?" Blake asked with concern.

"Someone insulted my weapon and I don't like it." Yang growled, marching towards Nora.

Nora stared right at Yang as they had a face off. Nora said. "His have longer range and don't even use dust."

Jaune added. "And I can manually detonate whenever I want to."

Yang glared before breaking out into a wide grin. "Yeah, that is pretty cool. Say, when we get to training, want a grenade off?"

Jaune grinned back. "Yeah, once more ammo gets made. What even is a grenade off though?"

Yang started explaining. "I've just made it up. The rules are simple. 1 round, no armour other than aura and the only weapon that you are allowed is that grenade weapon and the only ammo I am allowed is the grenade ammo. Then we will see who has the best grenade launcher."

Nora looked insulted. "What about me? I have a grenade launcher."

Yang said. "I almost forgot about you. You can only keep it in grenade form."

Nora nodded. "Sounds cool, except make it that no punches are allowed and the only damage allowed is through grenade. Oh yeah, no semblances."

Yang said. "Right! We need to ask Ironwood if we can do that."

Jaune chuckled. "This will be awesome."

Yang responded "Yeah, but I think Ruby will pass out in happiness from all the cool explosions and fighting."

Blake called them over. "Look at this!"

They hurried over and saw the mission board. "I'm getting Ruby." Yang decided. Once Ruby had come over, gotten over her excitement and the Ace Ops had come over, they could decide missions. Unsurprisingly, no-one chose pre-primary duty. Everyone raised their hands for the two-man sabyr mission. Elm sighed. "Only two go on this mission. Is there anyone willing to lower their hands?" Everyone except Nora and Ren lowered their hands. "Right. Ren and Nora will be flushing the sabyr out. Nora raised her hand for a high five and Ren high fived her after a couple of seconds.

"Next mission, we need a full team for this one. Bunch of grimm in an old SDC mine. Mainly Beowolves but there are a few big ones in there. Marrow will go with you." Elm said.

Team RWBY raised their hands. Marrow grinned. "Cool! I'll get to see what you guys can really do."

Elm said. "That just leaves Jaune. What do you want to do?"

Jaune smirked. "I like the look of the mission against the gang in Mantle."

Elm raised an eyebrow. "The sneaking one? That armour will stick out like a sore thumb."

Jaune looked at her. "I'll tell you why, but let's go further away from everybody else."

Ruby pouted. "Why?"

"It'll raise loads of questions with you. I'll tell you in the right order so that your minds won't get blown."

Weiss said. "Why will our minds get… you know what, just tell me later."

They walked away. "So, this armour isn't really an Atlas prototype." Jaune said.

Elm nodded. "Figured that one out."

"I don't really even come from Remnant. I had a past life on another planet, in another universe"

Elm only looked slightly surprised. "There's a Grimm queen who is planning to destroy the world, the Maidens from the fairytales exist, the headmaster of Beacon has become a young teen and there are special relics that have superpowers. Minds will not be blown."

Jaune said. "Oh yeah, I'll tell them when they aren't riding on a high from their new positions as actual huntsmen and huntresses anymore. Anyway, in my past life, I was a mercenary who went undercover for over a year for a mission."

Elm nodded. "Makes sense. Well it doesn't, but nor do the other stuff that I have mentioned. Tell them today though. They'll trust you more and trust is essential in a succesful team."

Jaune nodded. "I know that all too well."

Elm said. "Tell me later, get back to the ship, we are going back to Atlas."

Once everyone was flying back to Atlas, Weiss asked. "What's your plan for the undercover mission? Or have you not thought it through yet."

"As a matter of fact, I have." He responded. "I talked to Elm about it and I have a pretty good idea. I will become a mercenary and they will hire me while I send info back to Atlas."

Weiss stared. "And how will you convince them to hire you?"

His smile faded. "Need to work on that one."

Weiss facepalmed.

They landed soon afterwards and they all gathered in the training room. "Missions start tomorrow," Ironwood said. "so get some good sleep. Now, I've heard something about a grenade off."

"Yep! It will be awesome!" Nora cheered as everyone other than the three involved looked quizzically at them.

Ironwood raised his hand. "On two conditions. The first is that it happens in this mode." He presses a button and on the arena, blocks 3 times as large as a human appeared equally spaced from each other. "The other is that other teams can watch. Also Jaune, I have a few grenades that we found." By that, Jaune new that he meant it was in the briefcase that Ironwood found that saved Jaune's life and ruined it on the same day. Nora nodded vigorously.

Soon, team FNKI arrived. Yang smiled at the opportunity to meet new people, but her smile soon faded as she saw Neon. Flynt spoke first. "Heard there was a grenade off."

Yang regained her smile. "Yep, Me vs Nora vs Jaune."

Neon grinned. "This will be so awesome!"

Soon, the match was ready. For fun, a makeshift commentary box was made with Ruby and Weiss being volunteered by Yang. The others were cheering from up high, Ren rooting quietly for Nora while Blake cheered for Yang. Team FNKI were split with Cobalt and Ivory going for Jaune, Flint for Yang and Neon for Nora and there were many unfamiliar students also attending as well as the Ace Ops, Winter, Penny and Ironwood. Jaune stood closest to the small crowd without armour, thankfully not wearing his pumpkin pete hoodie, with his small sticky detonator looking nervous as Nora grinned manically at him. Yang was stood with Ember Celica loaded with just grenades.

"This will be a match to go down into history! Nora has a semi automatic grenade launcher strong enough to propel her but unlike the other two, it is not sticky. Will that impact her in the fight?" Ruby said.

Weiss continued. "Yang has a sticky grenade launcher, able to be shot whenever she punches even the air, however it has a lack of range compared to the other two."

"We know little about Jaune's weapon, but it is very potent from what we have seen." Ruby finished.

"On the count of three!" Shouted Harriet, having volunteered herself for this role. "One! Two! Aaaand Three!"

Nora and Yang dashed off but Jaune decided to shoot the corner of the block nearest. "And Jaune appears to have a plan here!" Ruby shouted. Weiss looked at Ruby with anger. "It's fine, they can't hear us, we rigged it so they can't." Ruby said in clarification.

Yang found Nora first and shot at her, but Nora ducked behind a block, which exploded a couple of seconds later, which gave Nora the oppurtunity to shoot at Yang. Yang dodged all but one, which sent her into another block which got knocked over.

"It appears that Nora has won that encounter but will she capitalise on it?" Weiss commentated. Nora moved to a better position to shoot Yang who was picking herself up from the floor. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the arena where Jaune had escaped to, Jaune pulled the trigger. The block next to Nora exploded as she didn't notice the sticky on the side. She is knocked to the floor, which gave Yang the oppurtunity to shoot a couple of rounds at Nora, one of which hits its target thanks to a quick recovery by Nora. Nora takes this and managed to escape.

"This is proving to be more tactical than we originally thought and I like it!" Ruby said.

"Yes, in this first phase of battle, it seems that Jaune has come out the best, not losing any aura as you can see on the board at the back." That board shows Yang's aura at 85 percent, Jaune's at 100 percent and Nora's at 68 percent with most of the aura loss coming from the sticky detonator. Jaune left a grenade again on a block and he ran away from it. Yang came across this area, but Yang smirked, having seen the grenade and she shot it with her own grenade. This created a big explosion, destroying the block but Yang, standing far away, was not hit at all.

"Yang has learned from Nora's mistake!" Ruby commentated.

"This will be a blow to Jaune, who appears to have a very slow reload time so he will not want to come into a fight." Weiss said. "And that is exactly what has just happened as Nora has found him!"

Jaune fired at Nora but due to the grenade being slower moving than the other's grenades, she easily avoided it and it stuck to the block behind her.

"She will need to be careful though as if she steps too close, she might get the full brunt of the grenade and she cannot remove it like Yang did as she is too close!" Ruby said.

"Her best strategy would be to retreat now, or try to push him back so she stays as far away from that grenade as possible."

Jaune avoided a flurry of grenades from Nora and Nora is forced to reload.

"It appears that he needs to explode the grenade to shoot again!" Ruby exclaimed.

"That will be a problem as he will need to get out of this sticky situation as soon as possible." Weiss punned.

Ruby deadpanned. "That was the worst pun. Ever. Of all time."

"It doesn't matter as Yang is sneaking, not noticing the grenade that she creeps ever closer too!" Weiss said.

Yang noticed the grenade as it exploded, taking out a third of her aura. Due to the distraction, Jaune hesitated and 2 grenades hit him. He crashed into the block which fell on top of him. Nora turned around and repeatedly fired at Yang.

"And her aura is in the red! Yang is out!" Ruby commentated as Penny made a buzzer sound that everyone including the contestants can hear.

Yang's aura meter faded from the screen and Jaune and Nora's meters grew to fill the back.

Nora turns around but Jaune has escaped. What she failed to notice is that there was a grenade right next to her. Jaune, hidden behind a nearby block, pulled the trigger. It exploded and Nora's aura hit the red.

"And that is it! Jaune is the victor!" Ruby shouted.

"Ren is coming round with money for those who voted for Jaune. Remember, the rate was 9/1 that Jaune would win. This will make Verdant happy as she put 10 lien on him." Weiss said. Verdant, a snake faunus, was very happy indeed as she gained 80 lien from this.

"We will be willing to do more commentary for more matches." Ruby said. Weiss glares at her but confirms. "This is not the last you will see of us in this commentary box. Thank you for watching this, but there is one more thing that you need to watch – the trophy lift."

Ironwood walks into the arena as Yang and Nora dizzily walk off and he presents Jaune with the trophy, a typical looking trophy made of metal that had obviously been used before as the writing below the new 'grenade master' writing was written. 'winner of the biannual knitting competition' Jaune lifted it and there were cheers from those who won money and boos from those who lost money, the loudest one booing being Neon. "20 lien down the drain." She grumbled.

Flynt patted her back. "Want to do some skating to take the mind off it?"

Neon nodded, sliding slowly down to the dorm.

Once everything was taken down, Weiss looked at Jaune. "While watching was fun and commentating was even more fun, we need to talk."

"Oh shit." Jaune muttered.

**By the way, while it doesn't seem like it, the clue to what Jaune wanted to do from the last chapter is in here. Also, this is the point where it starts diverting from the canon – events will happen like in the canon but the knock on effect from Jaune being Felix will eventually mean that both this and the canon will go in almost opposite directions.**


	4. Explanations

Everyone gathered in Ironwood's office because he said that he too would like to hear it. Jaune sighed and started. "Look, I'm not exactly from here."

Weiss looked quizzically at him. "What are you talking about?"

Jaune glared at Weiss. "It's already hard to explain without interruptions." He cleared his throat, getting back on track. "I'm not from Remnant either, or even this universe."

Nora gasped. "So you're an alien? Awesome, but where's your UFO?"

Jaune scowled. "Sorry." She muttered.

"Well, my past life is from another universe but when I died, I was sent here, reverted back into a foetus ready to be born, not knowing about my past life."

"Why were you sent here?" Ruby asked.

"I'm getting to that." He glared at her. "Anyway, I grew up, but I heard whispers whenever I was around someone who sounded similar to someone I knew from a past life." He looked around and seeing that they really wanted to know who sounded like someone he knew, he continued. "Ruby, Yang and Blake, you sound like people I used to know."

Yang smirked. "Anyone else not in the room?"

"Yeah. Port, Ozpin, Torchwick, Oobleck and many more, but we are getting off track here. The guy who sent me here told me that when I am ready, he would send my old armour and weapons here too that would trigger the hidden memories of my past life."

"Was that why you were so upset?" Asked Ruby.

"Yeah. The person who I used to be was…" He sighed. "A horrible person, worse than anyone you have ever met. When you saw me, I had gotten the memories of the horrible things I did not long ago."

Everyone looked at Jaune, not believing that he was capable of cruelty and brutality. Qrow said. "Look. You may have been a mass murderer or whatever, the important thing is that you make up for it. It sounds to me like you were sent here to get a second chance to be a decent person and to atone for whatever you did before." He sighed. "Yes, what you did was probably way worse than what I did when I was part of the tribe and afterwards but I still did some shitty things, but instead of making up for it, I wallowed in alcohol and self-pity and that helped no-one. You have the potential to be a truly good person, or to become another me, and trust me, the world does not need another me."

Jaune smiled at him. "Thanks."

No-one knew how to respond to such a speech, so Ruby awkwardly asked after a long pause. "Were you sent here to get a second chance?"

Jaune nodded. "Yeah."

There was another awkward pause. "So… how advanced is the civilisation that you came from?" Asked Ironwood.

Qrow snorted. "Classic Jimmy, always wanting to be the best."

Ironwood glared and Qrow and beckoned at Jaune to continue. Jaune said. "Much more advanced than anything here despite dust not existing there."

Ruby said. "I really hope Grimm don't exist there as then…"

"No they don't, thank god. Because of the lack of dust and Grimm, we managed to get to space and beyond."

Blake asked. "In this universe, are Faunus respected and treated as equals?"

Jaune grimaced. "No, they don't exist at all."

Blake looked shocked as did everybody else. "No Faunus? Is the human the only intelligent lifeform then?" asked Ironwood.

"No, there are loads of aliens with which we had a 28 year long war until there was an end to hostilities."

"Who won?" asked Ironwood.

"Humans won, but there were aliens who joined us because they realised they were being manipulated by their leadership."

"Manipulated?" Asked Blake. "How so?"

"The leaders were using their religion to control them. It's a lot more complicated than that as there were more factions than just humans and the covenant, which was the group of aliens we were fighting but if I gave you the details, I would be here for days as there were so many factions and so many events."

Ironwood grimaced. "28 years? How many died?"

Jaune sighed. "23 billion humans died and a similarly large amount of aliens died."

Everyone was silent as everyone took this information in. Remnant only had 100 million people because of the Grimm so the deaths were hundreds of times more than the entire population of Remnant. None of them could even begin to imagine the death toll. Ironwood looked at Jaune. "You speak as if you fought in the war."

Jaune got a haunted look on his face that was all too familiar to Ironwood when he came across ex-soldiers with PTSD. "Yeah, I did. I fought for a few years for the army, then became a mercenary towards the end and fought for both sides. It is something I very much regret as it meant I helped the manipulative leaders of the covenant further extend their reach over the aliens."

Ironwood looked sympathetic. "Seen and done things that no life should ever see or do?"

"Yeah." Jaune nodded. Everyone was struck by how old he looked. His face still looked 18, but his eyes were the same eyes that many had seen in the now over ninety-year old Great War veterans. These were eyes that had seen too much to not leave a lasting impact on the brain. These were the same eyes that Qrow and Ironwood themselves had, but not because of the war. Despite the teams having been in the fall and seeing and experiencing more than most adults would in their lifetimes, Jaune had gone through that and losing the love of his life and also fought in a war where tens of billions died and he felt guilt as he himself prolonged the war, perhaps causing even more to die.

Jaune looked awkward and uncomfortable at the sympathetic and empathetic looks directed at him and he said. "Shall I leave for you to discuss this?"

Everyone was about to say no, but Ironwood said. "Yes. I need to talk to everyone." Jaune nodded and walked out of the room.

Everyone looked furious at Ironwood, but he raised his hand and said. "I've seen this a lot with veterans. They think everyone is pitying them and they hate it."

Weiss said. "So we have to treat Jaune differently now?"

"Kind of. You see, Veterans hate being treated differently or with pity, but be aware that this is not the same Jaune you knew. Also, he may lash out in anger, verbally or physically. Do not respond in kind as it could have disastrous results. Eventually, you will learn what topics trigger a reaction and you will tread lightly or avoid them entirely. Otherwise, treat Jaune as you would normally treat Jaune." Ironwood explained. "Yang, you will always have a reaction to Adam, but you bounced back. Due to his many years of fighting, Jaune will never bounce back."

Blake gave a humourless laugh. "It doesn't help when there is little mental help support for veteran soldiers or huntsmen."

Ironwood looked uncomfortable. "Parts of the military staff are being trained for this." Winter nodded in conformation as she had just finished her training.

"I think this is all." Ironwood said.

"Yeah, this is all the depression I can handle." Yang attempted to joke, but nobody laughed.

Everyone filed out and they saw Jaune, who waved at them. Yang forced a smile and waved back, and so did everyone else after her. Jaune attempted to start conversation. "What do you want to do? We still have a few hours to kill."

Ruby asked. "What are you planning?"

Jaune sighed, all false pretences of a good mood leaving him. "I should go to bed, but I need a plan to re-establish myself as a mercenary."

Blake looked at him in concern. "This was your plan before you even saw the mission, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was." Jaune admitted.

"Why?" Weiss asked.

"This election is predetermined. While the polls say Robyn will win, all of Atlas' upper echelons will vote for Jacques as well as his workers. Also, something smells a bit fishy about his election. I don't know what it is, but even if there isn't anything, I will make sure Robyn gets her council seat."

"You know that what you are saying is highly illegal, right?" Ren asked in concern.

"Yes, I do and I don't care." Jaune said.

Ironwood put his hand on Jaune's shoulder. "I agree with you, and I would help you if I wasn't General of the Atlesian Military. Do know that if you find something about Jacques's campaign that is fishy or if evidence of your hand in this isn't found by anyone else, we will turn a blind eye to this, but if we are forced to take action, we will."

Jaune looked at Ironwood. "I understand. And thank you sir."

Ironwood smiled at him. "No problem. I will do one thing though, which is explain the disappearance of Jaune Arc."

Jaune said. "How will Jacques seeing me be explained?"

Ironwood laughed. "He shoots off his mouth far too much to be trusted by many."

Jaune looked at Ironwood in a new light. "Thank you sir."

Ironwood said. "No need to thank me, you are doing what you think, and I think is best for Atlas, and Remnant as a whole."

Jaune said. "I promise I will find out who is killing everyone who speaks out against you."

Ironwood smiled at him and they parted ways. Jaune noticed his team and RWBY were outside his dorm with a computer. Jaune looked quizzically at them. "Why are you waiting for me, and why do you have a computer?"

Weiss smirked. "You didn't think you would be doing this highly illegal operation on your own, did you?"

Ruby grinned. "Yeah! While we can't get involved physically, we can help elsewhere! If Ironwood can, we can do it too!"

Jaune smiled at them. "You don't have to…"

"Have to what?" Ren asked. "We are your friends and teammates who happen to agree with your plans."

"And the computer?"

Weiss answered. "We can write down what we can do, and there is no chance of anyone finding out what we are doing as the CCT is not working and it can't connect anyway."

Once everyone was in the team JNR dorm, everyone was sat and they had set up a mini desk for the computer, Weiss started the talk. "None of us have any experience other than Jaune. Tell us how you became a renowned mercenary then."

Jaune explained. "I had served in the war for a few years, but I and a squad mate were sent home and we met someone who told us that we can use our experience for good and become Mercenaries on the right side of the law. We did that and became known because we stopped a massive crime boss. He then disappeared and we stopped picking good jobs and we didn't care what we did as long as we got a pay check."

Weiss typed some things. "What are you typing?" Ruby asked.

"Just the essentials, as in stopping a well-known criminal can get you known and then you start getting more jobs." Weiss explained.

Blake said. "I have my own experiences of being on the wrong side of the law back when I was white fang. We never hired anyone when I was there, but sometimes there were mercenaries who were hired to take out high ranking white fang members who publicly spoke about the abuse of the Faunus. This often backfired as a lot of people put two and two together and made four."

Ruby said. "So, essentially you are saying what is happening now, except it is meant to backfire."

Blake nodded. "Exactly. We can respond in kind though once Jaune gets known."

Everyone stared. "Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?" Said Ruby slowly.

Blake spluttered. "N-no, I don't think we should kill anyone…" Everyone looked at her. "Just kidnap them." She admitted

Jaune nodded. "That isn't a bad idea, but we need to get me known."

Weiss looked up from her scroll. "That will not be a problem. You know Sanguinis Ferron?

Jaune nodded. "Oh yeah, the middle aged guy whose father 'disappeared'. What about him?"

Weiss explained. "Everyone knows he murdered his father and done some other stuff, he is just too important and too powerful to be investigated."

Jaune said. "How will that get me known?"

Weiss said. "His son is doing some shady business and he really is someone that the Police want. Take him down and then you can get access to his father."

Jaune stiffened. "That really reminds me of my first job."

Weiss smirked. "Good, that means we are on the right track. Anyway, he should be at one of his father's steel factories. Police are offering a huge amount of money for him."

Jaune asked. "Do you know which factory?"

Weiss nodded and showed him on the map on her scroll. "This one. He's in charge of this one and a couple more also in and around Mantle."

Jaune grinned. "Cool."

Weiss said. "Don't thank us. Remember, this is the last bit of help we can give you. Ironwood is covering your disappearance. Also, we will convince Ironwood if we are sent to find you that we are suited for this mission."

Jaune's continued. "And then you will 'fail to complete the objective as he overpowered you.' Right?"

Weiss nodded. "Right."

Everyone was looking at them. "You know, we are here too." Said Yang jokingly. "But seriously, this will really help Remnant as a whole."

Jaune looked at Ruby. "When will you tell Ironwood about Oz?"

Ruby sighed. "Sometime."

Nora glared at her. "I say we do it now. Who agrees?"

Everyone but Ruby raised their hands.

Ruby stuttered. "N-no. Wait. Don't…"

Weiss said. "Why not? If we don't tell him, we are exactly the same as Ozpin."

Ruby responded. "We wouldn't be."

Ren asked. "Why?"

Ruby explained. "Because we will tell him."

Blake asked. "Isn't that what Ozpin kept saying even when it came with the maidens and the existence of Salem?"

Ruby deflated. "I'm sorry. I'm a hypocrite."

Jaune smiled at her. "You aren't. What you are is young."

Ruby stuck out her tongue at him. "You're only two years older than me!"

"40 years older if you count my past life." Jaune said smugly.

"Doesn't count." Ruby muttered.

Jaune cleared his throat. "We are getting off topic now. Why don't we tell him now?"

"Good idea." Weiss said.

They walked to his office and he let them in. "General Ironwood?" Asked Ruby nervously. "W-we have something to tell you."

"What is it?" he asked.

"W-well, there was one more wish, but we used it."

Ironwood looked excited. "What did you wish for?"

"We wanted to know what Ozpin was hiding from us."

Ironwood looked confused. "Ozpin told us everything, didn't he?"

Everyone winced. "No he didn't. He didn't tell us the story of Salem." Ruby said. "Salem was a girl locked in a tower by her father. A guy called Ozma felt sorry for her and rescued her from the tower and they fell in love."

Ironwood looked shocked. "This is Ozpin, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Ruby continued. "One day, Ozma fell ill and died. Salem went to the god of light to convince him to bring him back, but he refused. Then, she went to the god of darkness and he brought Ozma back, but the God of light came and killed Ozma. Then the two gods were about to have a fight until it was revealed that she had been to the God of light before. She was then given immortality so that she may not see Ozma again and she may only die when she has learned the importance of life and death. Because of this, she rallied everyone against the gods, but everyone was killed despite having the gift of magic. She returned to the land of darkness, the place where the God of darkness lived, and jumped into one of the dark pools within, intending to kill herself. She failed and the pool corrupted her, making her desire destruction."

Jaune continued the story. "Ozma was then brought back by the gods and the gods made the four relics, the relics of knowledge, creation, destruction and knowledge. They placed them in the world and if they are reunited with each other, the brothers will be brought back to judge humanity. If man is still demanding of blessings while fighting amongst themselves, man will be wiped out. If humanity and faunuskind are living in harmony, then the brothers will come back to live among man. Until then, Ozpin will be reincarnated every time he dies so he can complete this task. He accepted."

Yang started speaking. "Ozma was reborn and people told him about someone called the witch. Convinced that this was Salem, he found the witch and he was right. Salem convinced him, as they could both perform magic, to rule man and convince them that they are gods. They were successful and even had children.

Blake said. "However, this was not lasting. Ozma became disillusioned and told Salem his task. He realised that this was not the right thing to do. He tried to escape their castle with their children. He and Salem fought but Salem won. Their children were all killed and Ozma was reincarnated.

Weiss said. "Then, he reincarnated again and again, living lifetimes in hopelessness. Sometimes he spent his life mourning, others drinking. However, he always remembered his task, always picking up where he left off."

"He asked Jinn many questions." Ren continued. "For example, 'where are the relics?' Or, 'what powers do they possess?' The most important question was 'how do you destroy Salem?' Her answer was simple."

"You can't." Nora finished.

Ironwood sat down and put his head in his hands. He raised his head, a large amount of hope gone from his eyes. "He was hiding this much from us?"

Everyone nodded solemnly. "All the more reason why we need to tell everyone about Salem and get Ozpin from Oscar's head. Speaking of Oscar, where is he?"

Jaune pointed behind the door. "He's here, listening in on us."

Ironwood opened the door and Oscar walked out. "I'm sorry sir." He said, looking at his shoes, bracing himself for the physical or verbal reaction.

Ironwood said. "No need. This lies on Ozpin's shoulders, not yours. What this means is that we need to find him in your mind."

Oscar nodded. "Yeah. How will we do that?"

Ironwood sighed. "I don't know. I'll think of something tonight. In the meantime, get some rest before your missions, especially you." He looked at Jaune. Everyone went to their rooms, including Jaune, who was physically dragged to his room by Nora. Everyone went to sleep, thinking not of their missions, but of the information given by Jinn that seemed like it had been given an eon ago.

**Kind of an explanation chapter, mainly stuff you will pick up later but it needed to happen eventually – I didn't want to put it off any longer.**


	5. Farewells and an Orgy

**By the way, this is the chapter I was talking about in the description, and while it isn't one of those shitty porn fanfics, it is very disturbing in the second half, and so if you want to skip, I'll summarise what happens at the end if you don't want to read that. If you complain in reviews, don't say I didn't warn you. **

The next day, everyone went on their separate missions, but before everyone left, they were gathered into Ironwood's office. "Do you know why I have gathered you all here?"

Everyone shook their heads. Qrow smirked. "If we did, we would already be talking."

Ironwood glared at Qrow. "We are here for the cover for Jaune's disappearance."

Everyone perked up. "What's your cover?" Jaune asked.

"You were on a mission to stop a group of powerful Grimm going towards Mantle. You were successful but you were injured on the mission."

Jaune cocked his head. "How will you convince everyone that this is true?"

Ironwood answered. "We have constructed a video partially using video editing and our holograms showing you taking on a group of Grimm, with the help of a few Atlesian knights, and getting injured at the very end. We will not show this video unless there is an investigation. If there is an investigation, you will return until it is over and be in a hospital bed, 'injured.' We doubt that there will be one as huntsmen get injured all the time, but you are some of the most well-known huntsmen at the moment due to your actions in the fall of Beacon, the near fall of Haven and taking down the Leviathan in Argus."

Qrow smirked. "Wow, didn't know you had it in you to break the law, especially such major laws."

Ironwood sighed. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. Remember, play along when necessary and only mention Jaune around those not around the room if you are talking about how 'you want him to get better.' Or you are talking about the past."

Everyone nodded. "What are we going to do about the information we told you about yesterday?" Weiss asked.

Ironwood sighed. "I don't know. We will first break the news of Salem to the world, but I don't know whether we should tell everyone about her immortality. It would cause a widespread feeling of hopelessness."

Yang frowned. "I thought we were going to tell people everything? I mean, I understand why you aren't, but just saying."

Ironwood said. "We need to break the news of Salem first, and then we can decide how to tell people that she is unkillable."

Everyone nodded.

Ironwood raised his hand. "One more thing. I will be providing accommodation for you. Take a flight to the centre of Mantle and go to Seventh Street. An apartment will be waiting for you on the first floor of the fifth building."

Once everyone had left his office, it was time to say goodbye. While they would be seeing each other again on the same day, for Jaune it was very likely that he would not see them in weeks. Ruby hugged him. "Bye Jaune, I hope it works out and you do manage to get Robyn elected."

Jaune laughed. "I hope so too."

Yang enveloped him in a hug far more strong than Ruby's "See ya vomit boy, I hope you come back so that I'm not the only blonde here."

Jaune laughed. "Yeah, I'll come back."

Weiss smiled at Jaune. "While you were a dolt in beacon and you have a horrible singing voice,"

Jaune put his hand on his heart in mock hurt. "Ouch, I'll have you know I practised very hard to serenade you."

Weiss glared. "That makes it even worse. Anyway, despite your annoyingness, I would be…" She tried to find the right words. "Upset if you died."

Jaune grinned. "Thanks, you do care about me!"

Weiss hurriedly tried to cover it up. "But only because Ruby would be upset!"

Everyone laughed. Ren walked over to him next. "Goodbye Jaune." Ren said. "While you don't come from Remnant, you are still my best male friend. Besides," Ren's mouth quirked up. "I would loathe to be the only guy in this group."

Jaune laughed. "Yeah, who would you talk about guy things to?"

Everyone chucked. Nora leapt on Jaune, giving him a bonecrusher of a hug. "Goodbye fearless leader! Or should I say, fearless Mercenary. Nah, Fearless leader has more of a ring to it. After all, if you died…" Everyone was silent as they remembered that they had already lost a member of team JNPR, if they lost another, it would be just Nora and Ren and considering what they had said about their background (they told Jaune everything as he was their leader and best friend after each other but the others only know of Kuroyuri), it was doubtful either would be able to continue.

After this silence, Blake smiled faintly at Jaune. "Goodbye."

Jaune smiled back. "Bye Blake." He decided to embarrass them. "I can't believe I won't be near to see you and Yang get together."

The two in question choked, Ruby giggled and Weiss tried to stifle hers, failing miserably. Nora started laughing and Ren chuckled lightly. Jaune looked at them. "I don't know what you two are laughing, you're just as bad."

Everyone laughed at the two childhood friends. Blake and Yang didn't laugh for fear that the attention would be brought back on them. Ruby, wiping a tear of mirth from her eye, turned to Qrow. "Not going to say goodbye?"

Qrow sighed and turned to Jaune. "Bye kiddo. If you do die, I'm gonna have to bring you to life and then kill you again for making my nieces sad."

There was another chuckle from everyone. They heard the voice of Elm. "Hey wait up! We need to say goodbye to Jaune!"

Harriet sped around the corner, followed by the others. Once they had said their farewells and everyone had now left but Jaune and Oscar. Oscar looked up at Jaune. "Bye and sorry for the Jinn thing."

Jaune smiled warmly at the younger boy. "What is there to say sorry about? I overreacted against the wrong person and for that, I am sorry."

Oscar smiled back. "Thanks Jaune."

At night, Jaune walked out of the academy, a different briefcase in hand, but one that contained his armour, weapons and a lot of ammo and also a couple of things from the Atlas military. Ironwood had learned that the normal briefcase was regularly refilled with the right ammo and so it was left in the academy so Jaune could grab any ammo needed. Ironwood had given up on replicating any of the tech so he was sure it would be untouched until then. Eventually, he found a bullhead bay and paid the driver for a trip to the outskirts of Mantle, paying him extra since this was after normal flight hours. Once he arrived in Mantle, he found the nearest restroom and started changing into his armour. Since there was no-one around, there was no-one to see him in his strange armour and if they did, it was too dark for a human to see and if a Faunus saw this, he would tell what he told his friends initially.

It was a long walk to the factory but eventually, he could see it, or rather hear it. Due to the use of Dust to make it hot enough to make steel, it was rather loud, the reason it was placed far away from houses or hotels. The workers were not so lucky, for they were placed in small apartments next to the factory, meaning no-one got any sleep; people working the nightshift or dayshift alike.

The factory itself was massive. It was a large grey box of a building, almost 50 meters tall with several floors filled with machines and Faunus forced to pick between this and working in SDC mines. It was massive, but not that large for a Ferron Industries factory – it was thought that he didn't trust his son for the biggest ones. Between him and the factory was a massive electric fence, filled with electricity dust, and behind that was a massive wall, making it look like a fortress. This was because a few years earlier, one of the factories was attacked and destroyed by the White Fang. On the four corners of the wall were towers. His map told him that the closest tower had 4 guards and there were many guards patrolling the area. Looking at the closest guard, he noticed that he was not a human or a Faunus, but it was in fact an Atlesian knight. He nearly laughed as he saw that it was an AK-130. _'Good to know, they are cheapskates here.' _He thought.

Thankfully, he had a couple of teleportation grenades with him (He had brought 2 pulse, 2 frag, 2 plasma and 2 teleportation grenades on him and there were several more in his case. He set one to teleport to a random coordinate and threw it at the fence and part of it disappeared.

**Meanwhile, in the Arc family household.**

There was a scream as Jaune's mother, Electra Arc, fell over, seeing a piece of fence appear next to her. Jaune's twin, Xanthia Arc, rushed over to her. "Are you OK? Why is there a fence in the middle of the room and why is it sparking?"

Her mother answered. "It just appeared! I don't know why!"

Xanthia, helping her mother up, wondered. "I can't help but think that this is because of my twin."

**Back to Jaune.**

He hid behind a nearby building as the knights, hearing the noise, started to investigate. While both generations had very clever programming, not even the AK-200 would have been able to explain why an electric fence had disappeared just like that. Thus, the droid called one of the only human guards over. He sighed. "Probably just a gap which Ferron couldn't be bothered to replace." He muttered. "Damn guy can afford a massive Orgy for him and his friends but can't be assed to replace a fuckin' fence. I need to talk to management tomorrow to order a new fence part."

He walked away and the Knights resumed their patrol. Meanwhile, Jaune tried to remember everything he knew about the AK-130. They were more bulky than the AK-200s, but their automatic weapons were built in instead of carried. They had built in knives like the AK-200s though. They were slower, and despite looking more bulky, they were less durable as they were made of cheaper material. They, despite having clever programming, were not as advanced as the AK-200.

Jaune smirked. _'This will be easy.'_ He threw a frag grenade near him and it exploded on the street. He hid behind a building. He saw the guard and ten Atlesian knights rush out, the guard shouting. "That was definitely not just part of the fence going!" They found no-one and huddled around the grenade explosion. "Either that wasn't aimed at us or whoever threw that was a shitty grenade thrower." The guard said to himself. Jaune threw his final teleportation grenade at them. The guard looked down at his feet. "Oh son of a…" And they were gone. Jaune had put in the coordinates specifically to go to a place where no-one goes, or so he thought.

**Meanwhile, in Anima.**

"Let's set up camp here." Raven ordered.

"Are you sure?" Asked one of her bandits.

She glared at him and the bandit muttered. "Sorry."

They started setting up Raven's tent and suddenly, 10 AK-130s and a guard appeared in the middle of it. The AK-130s were still standing and recognised the Branwen tribe from the wanted lists and opened fire. The guard was still lying on the floor, confused as to why Raven Branwen was fighting the knights in Mistral and why he was there. The battle was short but brutal. The knights were quickly dispatched once Raven had got her bearings, but the tents were destroyed. Raven put her sword to the guard's throat. "Tell me how you appeared here." She hissed.

"I don't know!" He wailed. "I work for Ferron! I went to investigate an explosion and appeared here!"

"I need to look into this." She muttered as she cut the guard's head off.

**Back to Jaune.**

Jaune realised that an AK-130 passed every thirteen seconds, but since ten had gone, there was a 143 second pause between two of the knights. In this time, he snuck through the fence and took out a blade; the same blade that would have been put into an AK-200. It was sharp enough to significantly take down even his Aura, and it was sharp enough to carve an entrance into the wall. He found himself in a corridor, probably used to get into a tower. He checked his map and he saw a guard coming towards him from the tower. _'Shit.'_ He realised that he would be seen and drew his DMR.

"Drop your weapons." He ordered.

The guard wisely dropped them.

"What's your name, and say it quietly – this gun can rip through your aura quickly."

The guard whispered. "Ronald Smith."

Jaune snorted. _'Jesus that is a boring name, although here everyone's called a colour so it would be weird.' _He then realised what situation he was in. He couldn't leave someone here with the guard as he was working alone, he couldn't let the guard go as he would sound the alarm and he couldn't kill the guard as he wasn't Felix, not anymore.

Jaune asked. "How many guards here?"

"12 guards in the towers, and one for every 10 knights, of which there are 100 outside. There's also 5 guards per floor, with 10 knights per floor. There is also a Paladin but I don't know where it went. It disappeared a couple of months ago."

'_Fuck!"_ He thought. _'This is not what I needed!' _He suddenly heard a voice; one that sounded like him but meaner and older. This was a voice he had not heard since Beacon. _'Kill him Kill him Kill him Kill him.'_ He then suddenly felt his arms moving on their own accord. _'W-wait stop! Stop! STOP!' _The DMR fired 6 times, and since the guard didn't have too much aura, this killed him. Suddenly, Jaune had control over his body once more and the Voice spoke again. _'Why should I have stopped? All of this 'doing good things' that you are doing make you weak. You need to be strong. You need to be a soldier.' _The Voice disappeared. Jaune had no time to think about this as 3 of the guards were coming down to investigate why their partner hadn't come back and wasn't responding to their calls. He sprinted into a room in the wall where there were obviously weapons, dragging the body with him. He hid both himself and the body behind the door and found the guard's walkie-talkie.

The good thing about working with Hargrove was that he gave you loads of equipment. One thing that he was given was a voice changer. He answered, trying to sound as in pain as possible. "Yeah, sorry I didn't respond, I cut myself and I'm just treating it."

The guard on the other side whistled. "By the Brothers, you really must have cut yourself badly for that much blood. You should probably talk to management about going home; that's a lot of blood loss."

"Yeah, will do. Ron out."

Jaune breathed a sigh of relief. He left the body there; maybe everyone would rush over there and leave him to find Sanguinis Ferron's son; Sterling Ferron. Jaune had done some research on him when his team thought he was sleeping. He was aptly named as he would spend large amounts of his father's fortune for parties and getting every drug he possibly can; he was known for forcing people to take drugs as well as using them himself. He often had parties in his office, especially at night.

Jaune got the blade again at cut an opening for himself. As he got closer to the building, he remembered something very useful about the AK-130; they had little night vision because of cost cutting, but they could hear very well. He also realised that Weiss was right – he was here. He knew this as he heard music from the top floor and what little windows there were lit up green, yellow, red, blue on repeat. He reached a side door to the building and was about to open it, hoping the guards on the map were above him. As luck would have it, the alarm went off as the guards found Ron's body. Every Atlesian knight went towards the location and a few guards too. Luckily, none went out the side door, meaning he could sneak in.

He walked into the factory and looked inside. Several hundred Faunus, baking from the heat from the furnace, were working while several human foremen shouted at them to "Work harder you filthy animals or your pay is getting docked!"

At this point, Jaune was confused. _'In most working environments, when the alarm goes off, people are ordered to evacuate.' _But then he realised. _'They don't care about the faunus. They just want profit.' _A guard went in. "A dead body was found. All humans go outside to evacuate." All the guards and the Foremen walked outside.

As soon as all the humans walked out, all the Faunus breathed a sigh of relief. They turned off every machine and one of the Faunus got a loudspeaker, playing all the noises from the machines.

A squirrel Faunus turned to Jaune. "You can come out now. We can see you."

Jaune cautiously walked out with his DMR in his hand.

"Why are you here?" A bee Faunus asked.

Jaune realised they hated working here so he answered truthfully. "To bring Sterling Ferron to justice."

An old crocodile Faunus smiled at him. "Go ahead. We don't mind. If anyone asks, we'll cover for you."

Jaune smiled in his helmet. "Thank you. All of you." He found some stairs leading up to the next. There were a lot of stairs since this floor, as it was the factory, was 40 meters tall.

Once he got there, he saw the party. Everyone was drunk or high, dancing with others while what Felix would have called 'white girl pop' and Jaune called 'bad music' blasted through the speakers. He smirked. _'Why don't people listen to Dubstep or/and Rap here? Oh yeah, because they don't even exist here.'_

He immediately saw Sterling. He was lying down Roman Emperor style, on a kind of balcony far above the dancers while skimpy Faunus waitresses served him whatever he wanted. He was a weedy man, with a bad case of acne and skin that looked like it was stretched too tightly for his thin body. He smirked arrogantly. One waitress walked up to him with some wine and he slapped her ass as she left. The waitress squeaked, but said nothing in fear of getting fired. Jaune clenched his fist as he saw this.

He pushed his way through the drunken dancers towards Sterling. He saw a door directly below Sterling, which he assumed would bring him up to Sterling. He found himself in a corridor with many bathrooms branching off, obviously made for those who got carried away during Sterling's parties. While his helmet filtered the alcohol fumes, he smelled the distinct smell of sick, pee and semen, and Jaune wrinkled his nose in disgust, but that last one stuck with him. _'Just what is he doing with the faunus?'_

He looked up and realised that the ceiling was made of glass. He checked a bathroom and even there, the ceiling was of glass. _'Just how depraved is this man? He can see you even if you are shitting!'_

Luckily, Sterling was too distracted to realise someone was below him and thus Jaune was able to find some stairs up to a sort of backstage area. There, he was repulsed at what he saw.

To the right of him, he saw a box filled to the brim with Dildos, a couple of them worryingly covered with blood. To the left of him was the Paladin, but it was not like any Paladin he had ever seen. The outside was covered in writing, with a bit a blood. The largest and most clearly written thing said 'Steed. Property of Daddy Sterling'. Instead of front armour, there was glass, so he peered inside and gasped.

It was painted in neon colours and there was a lot of blood and cum inside – so much that on the floor it formed a puddle. Piled on the floor in the puddle he found the reason why there was so much blood. There were various whips and even a cat-o-nine-tails. There were chains, leashes, needles of various sizes and many more things used for giving Sterling as much pleasure as possible, but judging by his unmarked skin, he wasn't using the whips on himself. There was so little room in the paladin that Jaune didn't know how two people fit in, but then again, judging by Sterling's standards, he didn't want to either.

Suddenly, the music stopped, only to be replaced by Sterling's annoyingly high pitched voice. "Now who's ready for Daddy Sterling to bring out his steed?"

Everyone cheered loudly and the Paladin went into action. "Paladin activating." It said in the normal voice that they used for every model since the old AK-50s. "Now who's ready for some fun!" came out of the speaker in a recorded version of Sterling's voice. The real Sterling screamed. "I am!" There was more cheering and the Paladin turned to him. "Intruder detected."

Everyone fell silent, but Sterling shouted. "Why don't we bring him here so he can also experience the fun?" Everyone cheered again. To the Paladin he ordered. "Ignore the intruder. Carry out previous command. I'll see this intruder for myself." The Paladin walked through the curtain in front of him and a now-revealed-to-be-naked Sterling walked towards Jaune. Sterling grabbed a Cat Faunus, who squeaked, nearly dropping the vodka she was carrying to the guests. She knew not to resist or drop the vodka, otherwise she would get the humiliation of a lifetime and a cat-o-nine-tails lashing. Sterling said to her. "Let's see who we have here spying on our fun time."

She nodded back. "Y-yes sir."

Sterling tutted. "What did I say to you last time? It's yes Daddy."

"Yes Daddy." If only her parents could see this, well if she ever found out who they were, they would be horrified.

Jaune crept out of his hiding place. "That's enough now." He said, glaring daggers at Sterling. "And let go of her ass." He added to him, now noticing his hand was grabbing her ass as she had a thong on and nothing else covering that area. He raised his Magnum for good measure.

Sterling smirked. "Okay, I will." He let go of her.

Jaune glared harder at him. "And drop the knife."

"If you insist." He raises his hand and drops the knife, perfectly cutting through her bra strap. The Faunus squeaked, putting her hands on her bra to prevent it falling off.

If looks could kill, Sterling was dead. "Walk towards me."

Sterling walked towards him, putting his hand on the Faunus's back, guiding her too towards Jaune. Jaune raised his gun when Sterling was close enough and pistol-whipped him, knocking him out and smashing his Jaw. Jaune smirked as he realised that Sterling hadn't unlocked his aura yet. The Faunus looked at him gratefully. "Th-thank you so much."

Jaune smiled at her. "You're welcome." He walked on the stage, where he saw two people had already started doing it in the Paladin. "Show's over people!"

Everyone stared up at him. "Th-that's not Sterling." A particularly drunk Mistralian man said.

Jaune growled. "I'm not messing around here! Go home or all of you are dead!" He shot the ceiling with his magnum for good effect. Most of the guests sprinted out through the fire escape as fast as they could, leaving the brave or the stupid ones.

"I'm not fucking around! Run!" He shouted at the 30 or so still standing. They stared back up at him.

"I-is that some roleplay, c-cause that's some pretty good roleplay." Said one of the less drunk ones.

He heard the Voice again. _'Just shoot one of them as an example.'_ He knew the voice wanted him to kill one of them, but instead, he shot the drunk one in the elbow, as he couldn't sense any aura with him.

"Ahhh!" He screamed, clutching his elbow. The rest ran out in terror, leaving just the waitresses. They all thanked him and one of them covered her mouth. "That's the one who tried to rape me last week!"

Jaune looked at her seriously. "Do what you want with him. That is one of the most sick and depraved things you can do to anyone and this place is the most sick and depraved place I have ever seen."

She started kicking him with her stiletto, causing deep gashes. Eventually, he was covered in gashes and her feet were tired so she took them off and started hitting him as hard as she could. Most of the Faunus cheered, except the cat Faunus that was with Sterling. Jaune walked over to her. "What's wrong?"

She stared at her feet. "I'm really happy that you've stopped this, but this is where I live. I live on the floor and once he's gone, I'll have nowhere to live."

Jaune said simply. "You can live with me."

She lit up. "Really? I-I'll pay you back."

Jaune chucked. "No need. I don't need money."

She said. "I can pay you back with sex."

Jaune stared at her. "Is that what you did with Sterling?"

She nodded.

"No. I don't want sex or anything else. I'll give you a place to live until whenever you want."

Her smile was brilliant and bright. "Thank you. W-what are you going to do with Sterling?"

"Turn him over. Ironwood will be very happy to see him behind bars."

He was followed by the waitresses as he walked down. He carried Sterling over his shoulder knowing he would need to scrub his armour later and showed him to the workers on the ground floor. They cheered, all of them rushing to say thank you. Jaune smiled under his helmet.

He walked through the door, followed by the workers and the remaining knights walked over to him. "Intruder. Identify yourself." Said one of them. The guards followed them. "Identify yourself!" The lead guard repeated as if he hadn't understood the knight. "Just call me your saviour because look what I have here." He dumped Sterling on the ground.

The lead guard stared at Sterling. "Stand down knights."

Another guard said. "What about our jobs?"

"Ferron's reputation will be in tatters. He'll have to reemploy you and this time, there will be checks – if no-one else checks the factories, I will myself. I have video footage from my own helmet as to what is going on that I will send to the police." Jaune said.

Everyone cheered again and Jaune dialled the police. "This is the police, what's your emergency?" The operator said.

Jaune said. "I have Sterling Ferron with me. He's knocked out and I know that you want him and have a bounty on him."

The operator was silent. "I'll send a ship with the chief." She decided.

Soon enough, a small ship arrived and a rather jovial man who obviously kept himself well fed walked out.

"M-my word!" He said, staring at the naked Sterling. "I wasn't sure that you were telling the truth but now…"

"Do you need any proof? Cause I have it." Jaune said.

"No, we have proof enough of his crimes."

"What do you know?" Jaune asked.

"A few women have been allegedly raped by him and one has video footage."

"Let's talk about this later. Can you promise me something?" He asked the man. "

"What do you want?" The chief asked.

"Promise that they," He pointed at the workers and the waitresses. "Get stable jobs."

The chief nodded. "I promise. An old friend of mine is trying to set up a toy factory. He's a trustworthy man who has campaigned for Faunus rights regularly and I'm sure he would be over the moon with this. I will also make sure that they are allowed to keep living where they are."

They all cheered once more. The chief called for several more ships to get the workers. Jaune got on the bullhead, carrying Sterling, who still hadn't woken up. The cat Faunus followed him on. The chief smiled "What's your name?"

"O-onyx."

"And your last name?"

She stared at her feet. "I don't know."

The chief looked sympathetic. "Why don't you join the others?"

Jaune answered. "Because she's living with me. She lived in the factory until now."

Jaune walked to a screen. "Follow me." He beckoned to the chief

He took off his helmet and black dyed hair spilled out. He had done this so that if someone saw him without his helmet, it would be hard to tell who he was. He took a chip that he had specifically modified to be compatible to Remnant computers, out of the helmet and put it into the computer.

"What is that?" Asked the chief.

"Helmet cam. It shows you a video from the helmet." He cut out the getting in and started from inside the factory and ended when he knocked out Sterling. He copied that to the small computer and put the chip back into his helmet. "Watch that in your spare time. That will definitely land him in prison."

Once they landed in Atlas, Jaune handed Sterling over and he was given a cheque. "Thanks for getting him." Said the chief.

Jaune laughed. "No problem. Now, can I get a flight to the centre of Mantle?"

"No problem! After all, you have just caught one of our most wanted criminals!" They said their goodbyes and went to Mantle. On the ship, Onyx turned to him. "You don't have to. If I'm ever a problem, I can still live on the street."

Jaune said to her. "Nonsense. You can live with me now and I really doubt you'll ever be a problem _'after all, I deal with Nora'_

She gave him a one armed hug, her other hand still firmly planted on her bra. Jaune returned it. They walked outside. It was still pitch black but he quickly found out where Seventh Street was and walked to the fifth building.

There, a man in his fifties was waiting. "You look like the one the General told me about. General told me you can bring anyone you want." He stared at the Faunus. "So you are fine. You know where you are?"

Jaune nodded.

"Then go."

They walked into the large apartment and saw that it was exactly as Jaune imagined. It had a nice kitchen, two bedrooms, two toilets and one shower, a living room, a dining room and an office. It was sparsely decorated but it was very luxurious. Jaune walked into one bedroom while Onyx walked into the other. Jaune saw that it was well stocked with clothes both for males and females, humans and Faunus. He walked into Onyx's room and asked. "You doing Okay?"

She nodded happily. "Look!" She exclaimed. "New clothes!" She pointed at the outfit she had picked and laid out.

Jaune smiled. "You can finally get out of that uniform!" He said back.

She looked happy for the first time in the short while that Jaune knew her. He walked out again so she could change and for the first time since Beacon, things were looking up.

**The story for those who don't want to read it: The teams, Qrow and Ironwood discuss things, including Jaune's disappearance cover, an edit of Jaune owning some Grimm then getting injured. Jaune breaks into the factory epicly, and sees Faunus working there. He goes upstairs to a kind of orgy and knocks out the son of Sanguinis, called Sterling, One of his waiters, a cat faunus called Onyx has nowhere to live so he gets her to live with her. Jaune gets the money and hands Sterling in. oh yeah, the Voice is back and took control for a few seconds in the break in. Feel free to comment whether I overdid it or not in the weird orgy section if you read it.**


	6. Nightmares and an unexpected call

They spent the day resting after such an ordeal. Jaune decided not to go anywhere as he watched the news and saw that there was a large amount of reporters looking for him and for that reason, he didn't answer the door to anyone, not even checking whether it was a reporter. They decided to go to bed early since both had been up all night.

Naturally, to ruin his good mood, he had to have nightmares. He was in a dark room, with a light illuminating the space in front of him. Blake stepped into that space, glaring at him. "You're just like Adam." She spat at him and left.

Yang was next. "I can't believe you!" She shouted. "You've forged your transcripts and you've lied about being a decent person! You're a monster and I hate you!" She stormed out.

Weiss sneered at him. "Here I thought that you were a decent human being but you're just another liar. You're a murderer and you're just like my father.

Nora and Ren replaced him. Nora was crying and Ren was comforting her. "I thought you were a friend. I thought you were family. But you've made Nora cry and you've broken my trust and that's unforgivable." Ren said. Jaune tried to say something, but nothing came out. Tears were streaming down his face now _'I'm sorry. I'm a Monster'._

Ruby stepped over to him next. She said nothing at the start but tears were streaming out of her silver eyes that looked at him in denial of what Felix had done. She spoke in a soft voice. "It's not true is it? You didn't try to kill an entire planet did you?" Jaune said nothing, not only because he couldn't but because it was true. His silence was taken as a sign of affirmation and she gave a hiccup-like gasp and ran from the room.

He then saw a face that he had only seen on recording since the fall. "I cannot believe that I saved you. I can't believe that I pined after you ever since I have known you. I-I can't believe you!" She broke down. Jaune desperately wanted to comfort her. A familiar gloved hand put his hand on her shoulder and the form of Locus stepped into the spotlight.

Locus stared at him straight on. "This is a dream, but when they find out truly what you have done, do you think their reactions will be any different?"

Jaune woke up gasping. It was 7AM. He got up, wiping tears from his eyes when suddenly he heard the Voice and this time, it was different. _'Who cares about them? They mean nothing. No-one but us mean anything and if they get in our way, don't hesitate to kill them.'_

He checked her room and Onyx was still fast asleep. He made himself breakfast and ate it and waited for Onyx to get up. One hour later, she walked out of her room, ready to make herself breakfast. Jaune had a good look at her. She was small, as small as Weiss and her hair was black and fell to her waist. She wore a pair of too big pyjamas and looked far livelier than the day before. Jaune raised his hand. "Good morning Onyx."

She smiled back. "Good morning..."

He said. "Jaune, but don't call me Jaune in public; I'm supposed to be in an infirmary in Atlas academy."

She tilted her head. "Why?"

"Ironwood and I made a cover story as to why I'm not doing any missions for the near future; I'm a newly made hunter but I decided to take action so Jacques Schnee will not make it to the council seat."

She covered her mouth. "Illegally?"

He sighed. "Yeah."

She looked at him with a ferocity he had never seen before on her. "I knew someone whose parents died in an SDC mine and when Jacques made a speech on it, he blamed the Faunus."

Jaune clenched his fists. "Wouldn't that cause a huge backlash?"

"No." She said angrily. "Everyone cheered and clapped."

Jaune sighed. "At this point, I'm not even surprised anymore with the racism that swirls around in Atlesian high society."

They had breakfast in a comfortable yet angry silence. Once they finished their breakfast, Jaune pulled out a notepad. Onyx tilted her head. "Why do you need a notepad?" She asked.

Jaune responded. "I'm going to make a plan to either shove votes to Robyn hill or get him arrested."

She looked up at him. "Can I help?"

Jaune responded. "Sure." He started explaining his thinking. "I'm becoming pretty well known as a mercenary."

She tilted her head again. Jaune noticed that this was what she did when she was confused or asking a question. "Isn't that your only job?"

Jaune nodded. "Yeah, but it was a very big one."

At that moment his scroll, that he had eventually accepted for times that he was not wearing his helmet, rang. "Yeah, who is this?"

A familiar voice said. "Jaune! Remember when I said that I will need you at one point?"

Jaune smirked. "I'm guessing you mean now."

"Where are you?" Junior asked.

"I'm in Mantle." Jaune responded.

Junior said. "That's very good because I'm in Atlas. You can find me by first going to the Street where the Schnee offices, not the Schnee manor, is. Then turn right if you are on the side nearest to the offices. Walk straight ahead for a while and then you can find my club. It looks pretty much the same as it did in Vale."

"What do you want me to do?"

Junior chuckled. "So, you got famous because of Beacon and Haven right? I need a good fighter. I've relocated because of the fall and there have been some people trying to deface and rob the club. That and I need you to kick blondie's ass because I heard she is in Atlas."

Jaune said. "I'll be there immediately and I need to tell you something when I get there." He hung up. He saw Onyx staring at him. "Who was that?"

Jaune laughed. "A guy who I need to repay. This could get my name as a mercenary because people aren't willing to hire those who have only worked for the cops."

"That's perfect." She said. "I know the underworld; they don't trust those that work for the police only because they think they'll get ratted out."

"Exactly."

"You going to go?" She asked. "I'll cook lunch with what I find in the fridge."

Jaune smiled at her. "Yeah. I need to spy on the Tumbler gang so this could be perfect."

Onyx gasped. "I know the leader!"

Jaune raised his eyebrows. "You do? No-one knows the leader."

Onyx grinned. "You forget who I worked for. He had loads of celebs and gang leaders and kingpins around him all the time."

Jaune smirked. "Figures he hung around that sort. So who is he?"

"Spectre Terciopelo."

Jaune raised an eyebrow. _'Didn't realise that they had Spanish here but I mean, Yang's last name is Xiao Long so…' _"Son of Domingo Terciopelo? Where does the Tumbler bit come in?"

She explained. "Spectre's grandfather was called Shade Tumbler."

He nearly choked. "The founder of Shade academy?"

"Yes. Domingo changed his last name to Terciopelo to follow the old Vacuan naming tradition that his dad started by calling him Domingo, although everyone speaks Valean now and no other language. It was also to distance himself from the Tumbler gang."

"But Spectre isn't Vacuan."

Onyx chuckled. "Spectre was named Spectre because he nearly died in childbirth but survived against all the odds. His father couldn't believe it and often joked that he was a 'spectre' and since they couldn't come up with another name, they called him Spectre."

Jaune looked at her. "How do you know this?"

She sighed, a lot of her good mood going. "It's amazing what people tell you when you regularly have sex with them. Anyway, you shouldn't keep your guy waiting."

He said. "Oh yeah. See you later."

She responded in the same way and once Jaune got his armour on, he prepared himself to face the barrage of reporters but surprisingly, there were none.

He walked in the street and everyone who saw him pointed to him either because of his armour or because of what he had done last night, although no-one approached him as they probably were too scared to. He got a Bullhead to Atlas and followed the directions. He saw the club and grinned. Junior was right; it hadn't changed at all. He walked inside and everyone was too busy getting drunk or dancing to notice him. He got a flashback from Sterling's party but he scolded himself _'Junior's a good man. Sterling is a rapist and a sex addict.'_

He walked up to the bar where Junior was. Junior asked. "Please take off your armour."

Jaune said. "Later. I have something to talk to you about."

Junior's eyes widened and he shouted. "Melanie? Militia? I need you to man the bar for a bit."

They went into a storage room where a lot of the drinks were stored. "What do you want?" Asked Junior.

Jaune took off his helmet and the black dyed hair spilled out, but the face was the same. "Jaune?" Junior asked.

"Yeah, but I'm supposed to be injured so just call me…" He thought before sighing. "Felix. I'm not going to be operating on the right side of the law so…"

Junior smirked. "Yeah, while getting Sterling was good, you did kill someone. Luckily for you, Atlas pursues a policy of 'the ends justify the means'."

Jaune asked. "What do you want and for how long do you want it."

Junior explained. "Find whoever has been defacing my club and who has been stealing things. I told you this."

"Yeah, but I need to see the graffiti." He responded.

Junior showed a couple of pictures. The first was a picture of the outside and it was covered in graffiti with several WWS's on the wall. The second was a picture of the club but things were knocked over and most of the drinks were gone. The third was the cash register, but it was surprisingly full. Junior sent the pictures to him.

Jaune said. "Sounds to me like this WWS is the same person who nicked the drinks. The first question that we need to consider is why this person nicked the alcohol but not the money. The second is tied to that; who needs so much alcohol?"

Junior said. "Yeah. There are a couple of gangs around here but they have a different graffiti sign."

Jaune asked. "How many? Shall I threaten them just in case?"

Junior answered. "I've done the research and there are two youth gangs. They operate night and day and they are in the middle of a gang war."

Jaune smirked. "I'm guessing another reason why you want me; to help prevent fights outside the bar."

Junior nodded. "Yeah. Might make business go down."

"How can I find them?"

"One gang wears red bandanas and the other gang have green rings on their fingers. Can you have a chat with the leaders to keep it away from the bar? I don't care how you do it."

"Got it. How long do I work for you?"

"Tell you what. I need you to do one more thing today and when that's finished, I only need you to help me and the twins from 6 pm to 8 tomorrow."

Jaune nodded. "Yeah. Will do."

Jaune walked out of the bar again and looked for any kid wearing a red bandana or wearing green rings. He found a short boy wearing a red bandana. He asked. "Where is your leader?"

The kid feigned confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Jaune sighed. "Cut the shit. I know you're part of a gang and I need a chat with your leader."

The kid looked uncomfortable. "No can do. I'm not supposed to say where she is."

Jaune drew his Magnum in a way that nobody but the kid would see. "You going to tell me now?"

The kid was still for a while before saying quietly. "Promise you won't tell my parents that I'm part of a gang?"

Jaune nodded. "I don't give a shit about your parents."

The kid said. "Her parents live on house 25 on this street."

Jaune nodded. "Thanks kid."

He walked to the house and knocked on the door. A tall, muscular 19 or so year old girl with stringy red hair opened the door and stifled a gasp. "You're the guy who caught Sterling! What are you doing here?"

He ignored her. "Can I come in?"

She was about to refuse but then she caught sight of the Magnum he was holding and wisely let him in.

Jaune was in a nice, middle class house and he asked her. "I know you're leading a gang."

She became very defensive about it. "Who told you? You going to turn me in or something?"

Jaune shook his head. "I don't work for the cops and I don't give a flying fuck what they think, unless they got bounty for me, although I am curious why someone as young as you is leading a gang."

She sighed. "I joined a while ago but the leader quit like a month ago and appointed me leader because I had been loyal or some shit."

He looked at a picture on the wall and saw a face that he recognised. "Is that Domingo Terciopelo?"

Her eyes widened. "How do you know him?"

He smirked. "Not answering. I'm guessing that makes your father Spectre then."

She nodded and he had to laugh. _'I guess it really does run in the family.'_

Jaune thought for a moment. "Do you know where your old leader went?"

She nodded again. "Yeah. He went to join the Tumbler gang."

Jaune had another thought. "Where are your parents?"

"They're gone for the day sorting stuff out for Dad's job in Mantle – he's an accountant.

'_Poor kid doesn't even know who her father really is, does she.'_ Jaune thought.

She looked nervous. "You should better go, someone's supposed to come soon." At that moment, the door rang and she looked terrified. She opened it and a man in his 40s walked in. "Ah, hello Scarlet…" He broke off as he saw Jaune also standing in the hallway. "Why is he here?" The man hissed.

Scarlet shrugged helplessly. "I don't know."

The man seemed to recognise him. "You're the one from the news. You're the one who got Sterling." He turned to Scarlet. "Why is he here? Have you called him here to rat me out?"

Scarlet raised her hands in fear. "N-no I…"

The man strode across the room and smacked her on the cheek, nearly knocking her head against the wall. Jaune put his hand on the man's shoulder and growled "That's enough. I don't give a shit about the law but that I don't condone."

The man tried to punch him but Jaune blocked it and punched him a lot softer than he normally did but this time he didn't intend to break a bone. The man staggered backwards but Jaune punched him again, flooring him. The man looked up, only to stare down the barrel of his DMR. The man put his hands up in surrender and Jaune hoisted him up and explained. "I have no interest about whatever you are doing and I will not turn you in but I will be here for whatever meeting you are having and as you have just seen, there is nothing you can do about it."

The man glared venomously at Scarlet and said to her. "You'll get hell for this later."

She looked at them stunned. "I-I'm."

Jaune glared at the man. "That's enough. Before you two start your meeting, I have a question for Scarlet."

The man looked to protest but Jaune raised a fist and the man wisely said nothing. "How do you know this man?"

She responded, looking surprised that he would ask her something. "A-as the old guy left, he gave me a rundown on how to lead the gang. He told me that this guy would come to my house every day whenever my parents were out and give me orders. I don't know who he works for, I don't know where he comes from." Jaune could see that she was telling the truth.

"Right, have your meeting now, but don't be surprised if I interrupt it." Jaune said.

Scarlet led the two men into the living room. It had two sofas facing each other and a chair facing the TV. Between the two sofas, there was a table. She sat down on one sofa and the man sat down on the other. Jaune sat on the chair.

The man glared at Jaune but then turned to Scarlet. "How's your gang war going?" he asked.

She nodded. "Good, we got some of our turf back."

The man nodded and got out a scroll and laid it on the table. It showed a map of the specific neighbourhood in Atlas and it had a green area and a red area with a line between them. "This was the area before the war." He pressed a button and the areas changed, the Green area getting bigger and the red area getting smaller. "These is the current areas. Where did you get back?"

She pointed to a couple of places and he picked up the scroll and soon placed it down again. The lines had changed, the green area getting smaller and much closer to the club. "Right." The man said. "Continue getting their turf. The long term plan is that this gang becomes the only gang in the neighbourhood. Make sure you don't lose any turf."

The man grabbed his scroll and got up to leave, but Jaune asked the man, "Can I have a quick… chat with you?"

Seeing that he couldn't refuse, the man and Jaune walked out of the room and walked into what was obviously the kitchen. Jaune closed the door, pinned the man to the wall and hissed. "You part of the Tumbler gang?"

The man nodded. Jaune asked. "Does she know her dad's…"

The man shook his head. "Are you going to tell her?"

Jaune shook his head. "You can continue giving her orders. I don't care about the little recruitment operation that you have up here. You can go now." The man glared at Jaune as he was let go and walked out of the house, slamming the door behind him. "What a dick." Jaune muttered and walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch where the man had sat on earlier. "Now, I think it is time that I get to the point. I am currently employed by Junior. You know him?"

She shook her head. Jaune clarified. "The owner of this club." He got out his scroll and pointed to the club. "Your little gang war is getting a bit close to the club and he is worried that one of the gangs was involved in this." He showed her the pictures that Junior showed him. She answered "No. Is that all you wanted?"

Jaune answered truthfully. "Originally, yes but now I have more info, which I will not tell you." He added as he saw that she was going to ask what information he had. "Give me the details as to why this gang war started."

She explained. "The gang war started before I was leader. All I know is that they took some of our turf and we are trying to get it back. As you heard, the man wants us to eliminate the gang."

Jaune sighed as this told him nothing, but then he got an idea. "I'm only one man; I'm not part of a group so it's a lot harder for me to find people."

She leaned forward. "What do you want?"

Jaune smirked. "I want you to find who made the graffiti and who trashed the club since I know for a fact that it wasn't your gang or the other gang."

"What do we get?"

"Normally I would say you don't get anything and give a big show of strength and skill, but I'm feeling kind. If find the person or people, I'll give you information about who the man is working for and why your father is always away, even when the 'accounting' hours are finished." He said.

She stiffened and her eyes widened. "How do you know that?"

'_I guessed'_ "I just do and you will find out when you've finished your job. Tell nothing to the man otherwise I'll have to pay you a 'visit' and it will not be as nice as the one today."

She looked scared, remembering how he easily floored the man. "Anyway," He said. "I'll be on my way." He strode out of the house. He chuckled to himself. _'Kid doesn't even know how deep she is in this. In terms of what she knows though, she's only scratched the surface of the underworld.'_

He walked on the street and walked towards where he remembered the other gang's territory was. Eventually, he saw a girl, about Oscar's age with shoulder length brown hair wearing several green rings. He walked up to her. "Where's your leader?" He asked. Like the boy, she feigned ignorance until she was 'persuaded' by Jaune drawing his Magnum. "Where is your leader?"

She said. "He owns that shop." She pointed behind her.

Jaune frowned. "Then why does he have a gang?"

She shrugged and Jaune walked inside. It was a normal grocery store and he walked to the checkout area and asked an employee. "Can I talk to the owner?"

He nodded, looking scared of his armour, and pointed to a man in his mid-20s. "That's him."

Jaune thanked him and went up to the man. "Can I talk to you in private?"

The man looked confused but realisation dawned on his face. "Come with me." They walked into his office. "What do you want?"

Jaune showed him the pictures. "Did your gang do this?"

He shook his head. "No."

"As a matter of curiosity, why do you have a gang if you own this store?"

The man explained. "Family business. My dad has the real gang but I have the recruitment gang."

"Why has the gang war started?"

"We've had this gang for 50 years and when the other gang came, we thought 'okay, as long as they don't go on our territory'. But they did and they got real close to the shop, so we took some of their territory and we are now on the losing side of a gang war."

Jaune then asked. "The war is getting real close to my employer, Junior." He looked like he recognised Junior. "Can you keep it away from Junior?"

The man nodded. "If you were anyone else, I'd laugh at you, but I heard what you did. You look like kind of a badass so yeah sure."

Jaune smiled "Thank you for being understanding about this." He walked out of his office and left the store. He walked back to the club. Once he returned, Junior lit up. "How did it go?" He asked when they were in the storage area.

"Good, I've got them to agree not to bring it here."

"Thanks. Did you find who vandalised this place?" Junior asked.

"No, but I'm one step closer and I know more about the gangs."

Junior looked interested. "What do you know? How are you one step closer?"

"The green gang is owned by the owner of the grocery store on this road. It's recruitment for a way bigger gang owned by his dad. He's pissed that this new gang is going on his territory; his is an old one so he retaliated and now he's losing."

Junior looked surprised that he knew this. "And the red one?"

"Led by a teen because the old leader quit to join the Tumbler gang. She's called Scarlet, her dad leads the Tumbler gang but she doesn't know it. She's also been taking orders from the Tumbler gang though she also doesn't know that; she's been taking orders from a man that the old leader told her to take orders from when he stepped down. They're winning the gang war and my bet is that the Tumbler gang want control of Atlas as well as what they already have in part of Mantle; they want to do what the Vacuan Mafia did in Vale. Now, as to why I'm one step closer. I got her to get her gang to start searching for the vandal."

Junior asked. "What does she want in return?"

"Information. She wants to know who the guy works for and why her dad is missing for lengthy periods of time, longer than his hours working as an 'accountant'."

Junior smirked "Her world's about to get rocked."

Jaune laughed. "Yeah."

Junior then said. "You've worked well today and you gave me more info than I can imagine. I think that's your workday done. Thanks for the info and come back tomorrow for your shift and make sure to check in with Scarlet? Was that her name? Again."

Jaune smiled at Junior, before realising that his helmet was on and going red, and walked out. He got a Bullhead back to Mantle and walked back to the apartment. Onyx opened the door and let him in. "I didn't expect you back so early; It's only 12!"

Jaune smiled "Yeah, I didn't expect it either; I thought he wanted me to do way more."

At lunch, Jaune told Onyx everything that happened. Onyx smiled. "You've played this well; getting one of the gangs, even though it is insignificant, under your thumb will be very useful, especially considering its connection to the Tumbler gang."

"Yeah. If I need them again after I give her the info, I can just intimidate her," _'like Locus always used to do for me but he isn't here now so it's my turn.' _"And get the gang to do something."

Onyx nodded. "You can also cut the Tumbler gang's connection from Atlas whenever you want to and I think this man knows it. You've put them in a quite precarious position as it is a lot harder to start a gang than keep a puppet gang going."

"Yeah, while Mantle has loads of drug addicts, Atlas has those who can afford it like the celebrities."

Onyx winced. "Yeah, while Sterling partied in Mantle, he lived in Atlas, but he did get his supply from the Tumbler gang in Mantle."

Jaune frowned. "Then why does Spectre want control of drugs in Atlas?"

They sat in confusion and then Onyx realised. "Oh yeah! The embargo!"

Jaune was still confused and then he too realised. "You don't think…"

"Yeah. While the Embargo is supposed to cover the whole kingdom, it is way easier to get to Mantle than to Atlas and the only way to get to Atlas from Mantle is by public transport and no-one will bring something illegal onto a Bullhead – it'll get removed and they'll get arrested. However, if you have control of certain parts of Atlas and certain parts of Mantle, It becomes so much easier to bring stuff that you bring into Mantle, into Atlas."

Jaune looked confused. "You kind of lost me there."

She sighed. "Embargo's blocking everything but it's easier to go to Mantle. If you control parts of Mantle and Atlas, you can smuggle things into Atlas by having one gang in charge of the smuggling and the other in charge of the collection. If no-one is in Atlas, they'll be going on another gang's 'turf' and then they'd have a real problem"

Jaune asked. "Surely they'll be caught?"

She shook her head. "You'd be surprised."

Jaune thought. _'Yeah and I thought the UNSC was shit at keeping track.'_

They finished eating and Jaune spent the rest of the day maintaining his equipment until he realised that he was out of teleportation grenades. _'Shit! I'm probably going to have to face the reporters and I have no clue how to deal with them.' _He decided to pull out the disguise that he made for himself.

He, as mentioned previously, had dyed his hair black. He put on contacts, making his eyes green. He put a bit of makeup on to make his face look different and he wore very dark clothes; very different to his usual colour scheme. In short, he looked like a mild version of the stereotypical punk. He took a flight to Atlas and walked to Atlas academy, however, the AK-200s wouldn't let him in, so Ironwood was called out.

"Hello, I've been expecting you." Ironwood said, making sure that suspicion was not aroused.

They walked into Ironwood's office and Ironwood said. "Good work, I'm very pleased that Sterling is now behind bars, but have you made any progress with the Tumbler gang or Jacques?"

Jaune told him everything, yet Ironwood didn't look happy. "This is good news, but you have faced some Media backlash."

Jaune was confused. "Why?"

Ironwood pulled up some CCTV footage that showed Jaune going up to the kid with the bandana and brandishing his Magnum threateningly. "That's why."

Jaune sighed. "Shit."

**Yeah, if people are wondering why Jaune isn't acting Jaune-like, I wanted him to sometimes respond like Jaune and sometimes respond like a good (kind of) version of Felix. Also, don't worry, this isn't a shitty Jaune/OC fic; he will be paired with someone from canon though I don't know who I will pair him with, although Arkos is pretty much out of the question to answer a certain reviewer's question. **


End file.
